Since only 3 colleges in Canada offer library tec programs, I am stuck doing a redundant undergrad degree so that I can get my masters in Library Sciences. It doesn't matter what undergrad degree I get.

That just seems like a waste. If you can get an undergraduate degree in graphic arts or physics and it doesn't matter to your graduate work...why make you do it? It's not like college is free (unless it is free in Canada). Why make a person go into deep debt for an undergraduate degree that really doesn't matter to the career field you want to go into? It is all a conspiracy to make money. The entire education system should be revamped.

A lot of grad programs are like that though (heck, law school is like that). It's not about what you study so much as supposedly preparing you for the intensity of graduate level coursework and whatnot.
College is so ridiculous anymore. It gets more doom and gloom, 'you have to have a degree to get a job!' and pressures people into going who shouldn't or don't need to, and then tuition rates get to skyrocket as demand goes up and... ugh. Yeah. We need a lot more emphasis on technical/trade skills training in this country.

No, college/uni is not free in Canada, though I don't think it's quite as bad as the US. For 1 semester (with 5 courses) at my small university, it's about 2,500. But yeah. I know I need my undergrad to prepare for grad school, but I believe the education system could be much more efficient and user-friendly. I know I was really pressured into going here.

That is very reasonable tuition. Here we are looking at $8000 a semester just for tuition at a 4 year college. With room and board added in it can be $25K a year. Unless you go to one of the US Military Academies...then there is no tuition fees to the students. Thank you taxpayers!

@Briannakin - Wow.... that's kinda rediculous. Do you know anyone (or know someone that knows someone) that took that class with that prof before? Maybe they can tell you how much of the reading you actually have to do. I had classes where they assigned lots of reading and you didn't have to read at all and others you really had to do it (those were mostly history and sociology classes).

@Ceillean - I wish it was more like that in the US. I feel like people are expected to go to college where they amass a huge debt and then can't get a job... a situation that I fear is only is only going to get worse.

I wish it was more like that in the US. I feel like people are expected to go to college where they amass a huge debt and then can't get a job... a situation that I fear is only is only going to get worse.

And try to get out of paying student loans...you can't. Bankruptcy won't get rid of them. They will follow you to your dying day. I have been saving for my kids college for thirteen years and there is no way I will have enough. And now I worry that it will only mean I can't get any grants...because I have money. Sometimes I think I would be better off going down to the casino and betting the entire amount at the roulette table...all of it on red! If I lose all the money they can be eligible for grants, if I win maybe I will have enough to afford college.

Or maybe I will cash out the College funds in small denomination bills and go to the "Thunder Down Under" male strip show. Woot! If I am going to waste money it might as well be while shoving dollars down some muscular stud's thong.

Does anyone know a lot about Jedi Trials? I've done initial research but I'd like to expand my intel further. Can anyone help me? I'm trying to find real life examples of each of the Trials. It's for a story I'm rewriting.

That is very reasonable tuition. Here we are looking at $8000 a semester just for tuition at a 4 year college. With room and board added in it can be $25K a year. Unless you go to one of the US Military Academies...then there is no tuition fees to the students. Thank you taxpayers!

$8000 for one semester? That's an insane amount of money. Depending on the state, the tuition fee is between 300 and 700 Euros. Seriously...holy crap...$8000?! Wow.

Does anyone know a lot about Jedi Trials? I've done initial research but I'd like to expand my intel further. Can anyone help me? I'm trying to find real life examples of each of the Trials. It's for a story I'm rewriting.

I don't know about canon but you could always look it up on wookiepedia. And besides that, you could also make something up. That's the great thing about fanfic and Star Wars. I'm pretty sure there are some historical references about coming-to-age traditions that you could use and change to fit your story.

$5000 for a tech school I went to. Financial aid wasn't able to cover it all. It's insane. I would love to go back and get my degree, but it's just too damned expensive. It's simply not feasible to put myself in debt for the rest of my life, and with all the interest accrued on student loans, you're paying them off for twenty years, if you pay minimum amounts.

That just doesn't make sense to me. On the one hand you have a bunch of people complaining about education and how the unemployment rate is so high but then they make it nearly impossible to get a decent education by wanting so much money. And once you're done with college, you'll start your working life with a hell of a debt.
What an awesom start into the real world. It's just crazy.

I did look it up on Wookiepedia, and it was very helpful. I was just hoping that somewhere out there was a person with some kind of experience writing stories centered around Jedi coming-of-age. Know anybody?

$8000 for one semester? That's an insane amount of money. Depending on the state, the tuition fee is between 300 and 700 Euros. Seriously...holy crap...$8000?! Wow.

Thats like 600-1400 dollars. I pay about 1500 for my 3 courses. But the bigger Universities can be much more. I know my cousin went to a much bigger uni and paid 5000 per semester. Textbooks are another rant for a different day.

Mav, I don't know anyone who has taken the class before but we were put into discussion groups today and we will keep those groups for the semester. The three guys I'm with are really nice so we decided that we will try to divide each week's reading between the four of us.

@ShadowofLures - Try getting the Jedi Path. It had a lot of stuff in there about the Jedi Trials. Most of the info from the book should be on wookieedia.

$8000 for one semester? That's an insane amount of money. Depending on the state, the tuition fee is between 300 and 700 Euros. Seriously...holy crap...$8000?! Wow.

Yeeeeeeuuup. Actually, where I went to school wasn't nearly that bad... if you were a resident of that state prior to attendance. I just looked them up and even 3 years later they've kept annual in-state tuition below 10k.
If you are not a state resident? *raises hand* It's now almost 14k per semester. I think my last year there was closer to 12.

Happily, I overachieved enough in high school to get a decent chunk of that taken off with scholarships and grants (without which there was no way I'd have been going there anyway). Unhappily, I was not that much of an overachiever to avoid a lot of debt still. Clearly, I did not have Jedi_Lover's presence of mind to rock out at a military academy.

Private schools are a whole other matter. Easily 50-60k a year on all fees if you're paying room and board. The whole system is a total scam.

I applied to a nice array of options- the in-state affordable option; the public but out-of-state probably affordable option; 2 private 'not unless I win the lottery but I'll be optimistic' options. And one school overseas. In Scotland. On my application essay, I mentioned that I liked to tell people I was applying there so that I would fit in with other redheads in the world.

That just doesn't make sense to me. On the one hand you have a bunch of people complaining about education and how the unemployment rate is so high but then they make it nearly impossible to get a decent education by wanting so much money. And once you're done with college, you'll start your working life with a hell of a debt.
What an awesom start into the real world. It's just crazy.

Medical bills are pricey enough, even with insurance. I've been paying off a bill for a year now. I'm hoping I don't have much more to pay, but with how interest piles on so quickly that you're paying that half the time, you still end up in debt. It's the interest that kills you, both with student loans, medical bills, and credit card bills. You rarely, if ever, get near the actual bill if you pay minimum amounts-- you're almost always paying just the interest.

I was lucky enough to get my entire first year paid for with scholarships and since I'm a orphan and my father had a government job, the government helps me out. My inheritance takes care of the rest. But going to school away from home was just not an option for me. WAAAYYY to much money.

Credit cards and student loans are just nasty. I have a credit card for buying stuff online and for emergencies, but I always pay it off before the 21 day grace period.

We have "free fees" in Ireland, so the government pays your tuition fees under most circumstances, but you still end up paying a bit, because of things like student fees and levies. And they've made huge cuts in education now so it's gotten quite expensive, and it's much harder to get a grant now. I think even with free fees you can end up paying about €3000 for a three-year course. It sucks. Covering rent and food and textbooks is hard enough for most.

It doesn't make any sense to me to cut education funding. Where are you going to get your qualified workforce to fuel the economy, if not via good affordable education? But no. Our TDs need a third car or a new government jet, so we have to make cuts.

I also don't like this thing where now you almost have to go to college if you want to get anywhere in life. Why does everyone have to go to college? I went because I wanted to, and I loved it, but I know lots of people who hated it. It's not for everyone. It used to be for only a few, and with good reason, I think. It's stupid to make people do it when they don't want to.

And credit cards suck. I refuse to get one. By now, I have a debit card which works as a Visa card, so I can buy stuff online without having to pay it back with interest.

So, talking about student loans. Apparently a Canadian bank "lost" an external hard drive containing very personal information on students who have loans. (link). I have never been so glad that I don't have any student loans.

300-700 Euros isn't 600-1400 US dollars. Right now the Euro is about $1.30, not $2.00. It was $1.40 when I was in Ireland, but it's evened out a bit since.

ETA: My college tuition was about $1300/semester and grants covered it, usually with a little left over to cover books and supplies. What was really outrageous was the $19,700 for my cosmetology program. That was for an 18-month program. Grants covered most of that, and I dropped out for health reasons. They ended up refunding some of the grant money because I hadn't attended all of what had been paid for, so I used it to pay for my nail tech program, which was $2000.

Did you guys see the White House responded to the petition to build a Death Star. They said they would respond to any petition that got over 20,000 (??) signers and this one did so HERE is their response... it's kinda epic!